


Height Differences

by valkyrific (Lunakore)



Category: Free!
Genre: Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, mentions of Nagisa and Rei - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 21:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5391062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunakore/pseuds/valkyrific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since middle school, Makoto has always been taller than all of his classmates, including Haruka, thanks to the help of several growth spurts that made him pass up his best friend in height, much to Haruka's displeasure. But even though he had been tall for most of his life, he still hasn't gotten used to the fact that he is taller than his friend that he's looked up to for as long as he can remember and often has to remind himself of that fact, especially now, in Tokyo, where he and his best friend-turned-boyfriend have been living for the the past 3 months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Height Differences

Ever since middle school, Makoto has always been taller than all of his classmates, including Haruka, thanks to the help of several growth spurts that made him pass up his best friend in height, much to Haruka's displeasure. But even though he had been tall for most of his life, he still hasn't gotten used to the fact that he is taller than his friend that he's looked up to for as long as he can remember and often has to remind himself of that fact, especially now, in Tokyo, where he and his best friend-turned-boyfriend have been living for the the past 3 months.

 

  
After graduation, Makoto had been accepted to his dream college, calling Haruka the minute he got the acceptance letter to tell him the news. It was later revealed to him that Haruka was to start training at a pool a few blocks away from Makoto's college campus, and both boys jumped at the chance of living together in Tokyo.

 

  
The move went smoother than expected, and the boys went home one more night before the final send off by their friends and family. Makoto promised Nagisa and Rei to keep in touch, as they all knew Haru never accomplish a task such as that. It wasn't that he was incompetent, but more because of the fact that his texting resembled his way of speaking, which is hardly speaking at all.

 

  
Their apartment was much smaller than they were used to, as even Haru's house back in Iwatobi surpassed the size of it. It took about 5 days before they were finished unpacking the many boxes they had filled with stuff from home. The books and movies had taken the longest, though, considering the meticulous way Haru organizes his belongings, which Makoto finds extremely adorable. 

 

  
Makoto was given the task of hanging up photos and shelves on the walls. He reasoned with Haru that if he put them up, they wouldn't have to borrow a step stool from the neighbor below them, but it took Makoto a while to convince Haru that he could be trusted to decorate their walls despite his incurable clumsiness he's had since before he could remember.

 

Haruka had just finished filling up their newly built bookshelf with their extensive collection of books and movies before Makoto's voice rang out from the other side of the apartment. 

 

 

"Haru! I finished putting up everything!" 

 

  
  
Getting up from his position on the floor, Haru padded over to the hallway, his bare feet making contact with the cold tile floor of the kitchen before spotting a very proud looking Makoto with a sparkling white grin stretching across his face. He glanced around to see Makoto's work, the paintings in the room perfectly straight and the shelves nice and sturdy. He was about to give Makoto a curt nod of approval before noticing the mirror that had been placed near where Makoto was standing. While it was perfectly straight like the paintings were, there was something else that Makoto hadn't noticed was wrong with it. 

 

 

Makoto had realized that Haru was staring at the mirror and glanced over at it. Having checked several times that it was placed at the right angle, he was confused at first at what Haru was staring so intensely at, until he looked at what the mirror was reflecting. 

 

  
When he had put up the mirror, Makoto had been placing it so that only his upper body would be visible in the mirror, not taking into account his and Haru's height difference. 

 

  
The only thing of Haru's that was visible in the mirror was his jet black hair and the top of his forehead, and as soon as Makoto realized this, he let out a small snort before giggling at Haru's annoyed expression. Haru's face contorted into an indignant pout before a blush spread across his face as Makoto gently pressed a chaste kiss on his right cheek and started taking down the mirror so that he could adjust it to Haruka's shorter height. 

 

  
They fell into a routine after living in their small apartment for a few weeks, with Makoto taking their laundry to the laundromat a few blocks away and Haru cooking dinner every night because of Makoto's inability to cook something without burning it to a crisp. They found solitude in a regular routine, as it reminded them of the one they had back in Iwatobi, even though they did miss the comfortable silence of walking to and from school. But, surprisingly, doing the dishes together gave them a similar feeling to walking home. The same comfortable silence would always fill the room as Makoto's large calloused hands would grasp the yellow sponge and clean the food and stains of last night's dinner from their porcelain plates and Haruka's longer, more delicate fingers would dry them off and place them in the wooden cupboards of their kitchen. 

 

  
Sometimes, though, their busy schedules wouldn't allow them to enjoy their comfortable silence and one of them would be stuck with all of the chores, like Makoto was tonight.

 

  
Makoto hummed the tune of a song he heard on the radio as he scrubbed off the slightly burnt food that he cooked earlier from the plates and put them away. Since Haru had to stay longer at the pool tonight, Makoto opted to turn off the lights and crawl in bed with a book before going to sleep early, excited that he and Haru wouldn't have to go anywhere tomorrow and could spend the whole day laying around to their hearts' content. 

 

  
The next morning, Haru woke up and hauled his sore muscles out of bed with the intent of making a delicious breakfast, even if it did go against his coach's dietary restrictions, knowing Makoto would bother him about that after they ate. 

 

  
Halfway through cooking their meal, Makoto padded groggily into their shared kitchen, wrapping his arms around Haru's bare torso, as he still had the habit of cooking in only a swimsuit and and apron. Haru deemed the food cooked and turned off the stove before prying himself out of Makoto's bear hug and looking around for the plates. 

 

  
"Oh, sorry, Haru-chan, I didn't know where you usually put the plates, so I just put them in there." Makoto said, his voice laced with sleep but still in his usual sweet, lilting tone as he pointed to a cupboard on the other side of the kitchen. 

 

  
Haru opened the wooden cupboard and searches for the plates, quickly spotting them on the top shelf. He reached for them, but his normal stature couldn't even reach the edge of it, so he put all of his weight on his toes as he stretched as far as his lean figure could take him, which still wasn't tall enough to reach where Makoto had set their plates the night before. 

 

  
Hearing a chuckle from behind him, he felt a warm hand being placed on his hip while the other hand reached above him to grab the plates effortlessly. A pout reached Haru's lips at the sight and he shifted back from standing on his tippy toes to his normal height. 

 

  
"Here you go, Haru-chan." Makoto said as he planted a sweet kiss on Haru's mouth and pushed two plates into his grasp.

 

  
"Drop the -chan."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to leave a comment and let me know if I made any mistakes. Have a nice day!


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